Tennis star Lleyton Hewitt has become the first Australian to reach the finals of the Australian Open in 17 years after beating American Andy Roddick in four sets.
The third-seeded Hewitt dropped the first set (3-6) before coming back to win two straight tiebreakers (7-6, 7-6), then earned the victory Friday in Melbourne by crushing fourth seed Roddick 6-1 in the fourth set.
Hewitt will face former U.S. Open champion Marat Safin in the men's final on Sunday. The fourth-seeded Russian upset defending champion and world number one Roger Federer of Switzerland in a five-set semifinal Thursday.
The women's final Saturday will be an all-American affair, with world number one Lindsay Davenport taking on seventh seed Serena Williams.
In an emotional match Friday, Davenport lost the doubles final, but said just the fact that teammate Corina Morariu joined her to make it that far is extremely pleasing.
Morariu was in a Grand Slam final for the first time since learning she had leukemia, three months after winning the mixed doubles and making it to the women's doubles final in Australia four years ago.
Despite the American duo's 6-3, 6-4 loss to Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia and Alicia Molik of Australia, Davenport told the crowd that just standing there as a team is "pretty remarkable."
Morariu said that three and a half years ago, she was not sure she was going to see another day, let alone another Grand Slam final. Two days after celebrating her 27th birthday, Morariu told the crowd this was a real special day.
